Plextek (News - Alert) Ltd, the design house behind the market leading Blighter® (www.blighter.com)
electronic-scanning ground surveillance radar system, announced today
that its Blighter radars have been deployed to enhance Heathrow's
perimeter security.

The Blighter B400 series electronic scanning radars - with Frequency
Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) and Doppler processing - form part of
an integrated perimeter security system at Heathrow, developed and
supplied to BAA plc, the airport operator, by Touchstone (News - Alert) Electronics, a
specialist security provider to the UK airport industry. The complete
airport perimeter surveillance solution includes long-range day and
night cameras and a network of high definition cameras, capable of
quickly identifying and tracking intruders detected by the Blighter
radar.

Andy Cowen, BAA's Security Development Manager said: "We needed a highly
reliable, maintenance-free system that could provide intensive 24-hour
surveillance of key areas of the airport in all weather and light
conditions. The Blighter Doppler system is technically superior to
anything else we've seen and met our requirements in full, and since
deployment has led to considerable operational savings, reduced security
staff costs, with a marked improvement in detection.

"Installation costs were also minimal as Blighter's long-range detection
capability and wide elevation beam allow the radars to be remotely
mounted on existing airport infrastructure thus avoiding digging up
airport surfaces to lay cables. Blighter is also particularly effective
in the airport environment as it is able to monitor movement between
different security zones."

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Mark Radford, director of the Blighter Group at Plextek, said: "We are
delighted that the major benefits of our Blighter radar are being
recognised by busy international airports such as Heathrow and at other
airports in the United States, Europe and Africa."

Heathrow Airport is the world's busiest international airport and the
hub of the civil aviation world. Over 67 million passengers travel
through the airport annually on services offered by 90 airlines
travelling to over 180 destinations in over 90 countries.

Blighter radars are particularly well suited to airport security
applications due to their long-range detection capability (10m to 2km in
steps up to 32km), 20º wide elevation beam and their ability to detect
very small and slow targets even in cluttered environments. The Blighter
radar's low-power FMCW electronic signature is also compatible with
other airport communications and navigation equipment.

"Our radar's eagle-eye view can look over the top of obstructions and
uneven ground giving it a continuous, unobstructed view of critical
perimeter areas," added Mark Radford. "This is a major advantage over
traditional surface mounted radars which suffer substantial blockage
from local buildings, infrastructure and airport vehicles including
aircraft."

Blighter radars are used worldwide in commercial, government and defence
markets in area and asset protection for national border security,
homeland security, critical infrastructure protection, coastal
surveillance, and in defence applications. Blighter radars provide an
unmatched combination of high reliability, accuracy and performance with
a low cost of ownership.